Editorial Review

As AFI rode onto mainstream radio playlists with their gleaming major label debut, Read more

Reviews (214)

Loyal AFI Fan!!!
Decemberunderground is one of the greatest cd's ever!!! I love all of AFI's music and bands do change there style to keep up to date.Davey's style keeps the band going and his voice is great!!!Jade's style with his guitar is his own!! Every song on this CD is excellent and you will never tire of it. Even if you have never heard of AFI, you will love this CD, give it a try!!!

Not a shabby followup

A bold new direction.....in cruise control.
AFI is one of the more exciting acts in the quasi-rock mainstream.While they aren't risk takers in the Tim Buckley sense, they certainly aren't scared of adding fresh interesting levels to their maturing foundation. This of course accumliated in their best release to date,"Sing the Sorrow."This isn't the case with "December Underground" as they appear to have cut themselves down to the old punk quick so that they may construct an entirely different sound from the rubble.
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Subjects:  1. Alternative Pop/Rock    2. Emo    3. Glam Rock    4. Goth Rock    5. Hardcore Punk    6. New Wave    7. Pop    8. Punk    9. Punk Revival    10. Rock    11. United States of America   

Reviews (9)

ABSOLUTELY AWESOME!!!!!
The 13th Hour, along with all of MIDNIGHT SYDICATE's cd's are definately worth the purchase! Anyone that actually has listened to this cd knows that it's awesome! Disappointing or even falling flat definately not! ED AND GAVIN god bless you,and everyone involved in creating the greatest music now and for years to come. congrats!!!!

The Romantic Period Is Not Resting in Peace
I got this for Christmas, and I love it.In addition to what many others here have said, it's a dreamlike (sometimes nightmarish) rendition of a tour of a haunted Victorian mansion.It is mostly done with what sounds like classically trained musicians using the most modern of instruments, creating the effect of the Romantic period invading our modern world.

An Eerie Treat for the Imagination
The name Midnight Syndicate has become synonymous with incredible creepy, haunting, atmospheric soundscapes, and for good reason. Edward Douglas and Gavin Goszka have a highly noteworthy ability to combine ominously elegant sound effects and eerie, ethereal orchestrations into a memorable melange that is most certainly a treat for the ears and the imagination.
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Subjects:  1. Electronic    2. Goth Rock    3. Miscellaneous    4. Soundtracks    5. The ultimate Halloween soundtrack blending Midnight Syndicate's signature gothic orchestration, 80's-influenced horror movie music and chilling sound effects that draw you into the halls of a haunted Victorian mansion with a sinister history.   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (83)

They should release a 2-disc Greatest Hits Compilation.
...and this is the list of songs they should put on the compilation
Hidden stuff
I found this info on the Internet; I haven't verified it yet. A bit thin of a career retrospective.
A career overview of tracks selected by Robert Smith, "Greatest Hits" may be a bit of a misnomer, at least here in the United States, but nonetheless this proves to be a fine overview of the Cure's tenure with Fiction Records-- the only shortcoming of the piece is that as a single disc, selection had to be carefully performed and a number of critical pieces were omitted.
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Subjects:  1. Alternative Pop/Rock    2. College Rock    3. Goth Rock    4. New Wave    5. Pop    6. Post-Punk    7. Rock    8. Rock/Pop   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (288)

While I am a huge Henry Rollins fan...
...I must disagree with him. He has obviously put up a mental wall to anything by the Cure, but someone who ruminates on depression (in fact, makes a living off of it) so intensely can surely appreciate the level of intensity and emotional impact of Robert Smith's outlet, especially this album. Disintegration is flat out one of the most amazing albums of all time, by anyone. One thing I noticed while listening even for the first time was the visual impact it had. Not so much in the form of reality based images, but more like paintings. It's also one of the shortest long albums I own, meaning that it's 70-some minutes seem much shorter due to the album's ability to keep you mesmerized the whole time. As someone who generally listens to hardcore, extreme metal, and grind, I can tell you that all of those genres have nothing on this album in terms of intensity.
Amazing Album
The last 3 tracks on this album are as perfect for my soul as anything I've ever listened to. It's like Smith found a Chakra for our modern existence. If you are deep and contemplative, then turn the lights out, lie down, and put this record on.
On my top 5
They just don't make music this good anymore. This is one of the few albums that I could listen to over and over and was one of the last great albums of the 20th century. Great stuff! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Alternative Pop/Rock    2. Alternative/Indie-Rock    3. College Rock    4. Goth Rock    5. New Wave    6. Pop    7. Post-Punk    8. Rock    9. Rock/Pop   

Reviews (109)

WTF?!?!?!?!?!?!?
DUDE?!?! What happened, when i heard about a new Zombie cd i was like O YEA! and then when i heard foxy foxy i was like WTF?? What happened to Hellbilly and Sinister kind of music?? I dont know what happened but, I'll admit theres a few decent songs like Let It All Bleed Out and The Scorpion Sleeps, but WTF?!?!?!?!?
Don't Overlook This One!
OK, ok.Typical Rob Zombie it ain't.I agree.If you love his solo work up to this point and his White Zombie stuff, as I do, you do have a certain expectation about what a Zombie (Rob or White) album will deliver.But Zombie's a creative creature, and that's why I love this album.He's too creative to stick with that hot rod drivin' demon conception forever.And this album proves he can move beyond that.He keeps a lot of the similar, horror based track concepts, but this is less a metal album and much more a hard rock album.It still has loads of the atmosphere that Zombie is quite good at creating, but it's got a lot of groove that really comes across very well.That said, there are still some tracks that sound a little like classic Zombie."Let it All Bleed Out" would fit well on any of his other albums, as would a few others.It's the more unique and clever approaches to songs like "The Devil's Rejects" that make the album unique.Bottom line, if you're willing to let Rob take you in a different direction, this is a very strong album.If you just can't bear Rob trying something a little different, it's not for you.But give it a couple of listens before you condemn this album for its variance from traditional Zombie.

Horrible
I've been a Zombie fan since somewhere between 94-96 and have seen him 3 times in concert.I am disappointed I went last month to see him with Godsmack and regret wasting the $110 and going out in hurrican Ernesto rain.He has sold out with the Red White & Blue theme and I am tired of him speeding up all his old good songs and no bass.And for you guys that haven't been to this tour yet ROB DID 3 COVER SONGS. UGH!Sweet Dreams and a Van Halen song I dind't know haha and Hendrix's Star Stangled Banner. He even made the sucky Educated Horses linger way too long by playing it at 2 diferrent times. I was mortified.
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Subjects:  1. Alternative Metal    2. Alternative Pop/Rock    3. Industrial Metal    4. Pop    5. Rock    6. Rock/Pop   

Editorial Review

Starting life as the most competent Misfits tribute band to not actually play Misfits songs, San Francisco Bay Area punks A.F.I. have not only discovered how to write their own snarling melodies, but have developed the confidence to play them without a cloak. Read more

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Reviews (1093)

This CD is AWESOME
This is a great cd to buy if you never listened to AFi. it will make you buy the other ones. if you have listened to AFI before, you definatly buy this. it is one of those CDS that you could listen to over and over agian and never get tired of it

This is amazing, but don't try to categorize it
Is it punk? Is it goth? Alternative? Metal? Play this CD for 10 different people and I bet few of them will agree on how to categorize it. And that's one of the things that makes it great. If you were an AFI fan from their early days of three-chord songs on Answer That and Stay Fashionable, then this likely wouldn't appeal to you. This is not punk in the sense that their earlier CDs were (and yes, I have heard them). But the punk influence is still there, particularly in the vocals on "but home is nowhere" and "Bleed Black." To someone who only listens to pop on the radio, they would think this is punk. To someone who thinks Crass is real punk, they obviously wouldn't. If you look through the one-star reviews, a lot of them are from people who are mad that AFI "sold out" to sign to a major label and no longer sounds like they did when they were writing about breakfast cereal. Nor is this goth, per se, but if you only read the lyric sheet and looked at a photo of the band in this era, you might assume they are goth.
AFI boldly goes in new directions...
Sing the Sorrow was my first introduction to AFI. Which is probably why I like it so much. I honestly find this album to be breathtaking. Its a true work of art, and a great sign of maturity from the band. The Art of Drowning is a great record, but this is really a step in a new direction for AFI. Have the sold out? Not at all. They just refined and have built off their old sound. While not abandoning the old sound completly, you can still tell that this is AFI, and there a few songs on this record that should please old AFI fans. But most the album is a step in a new direction, and I personally welcome that direction. A band can't keep creating the same album, it will get old. So no, this is not Black Sails, or Art of Drowning. But its a dang good record, and based off the number of copies it sold, alot of people think its dang good as well.
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Subjects:  1. Alternative Pop/Rock    2. Emo    3. Goth Rock    4. Hardcore Punk    5. Pop    6. Punk    7. Punk Revival    8. Punk-Pop    9. Rock    10. United States of America   

Editorial Review

Yes, I was one of Read more

Reviews (6)

Turning on the light in a dark room
The liner for this compilation pretty much sums it up. Goth music was created in the UK by people who watched the late night creature feature and who read Shelly, Stoker,etc. Some of these artists were romantics and some wanted to be like Alice Cooper (Nik Fiend).
Rhino knows Goth...
Repackaged Goth music courtesy of Rhino. Thank you for telling us what goth music is and what artists are goth. The masses no longer have to think, we only have these record companies to decide for us what category a certain genre of music belongs to.
So gothic it's undead
I am completely pleased to see something like this come out in the year 2006. For those who are just discovering gothic rock, and for us seasoned veterans, this collection is exceptional. I do have some bones with it...AFI is a good band but hardly goth. And where are bands like Inkubus Sukkubus? Die Laughing? Switchblade Symphony? Big Electric Cat? The Shroud? Ofra Haza? And they certainly could have picked a better Neubauten song!! But I digress...this is a great collection. The DVD rocks, the music rocks. Check it out for yourself. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Electro-Industrial    2. Goth Rock    3. Industrial    4. Pop    5. Rock    6. Rock/Pop Collections    7. V/a Compilations   

Editorial Review

Trent Reznor has always been a one-trick-pony, but it's a damn good trick: sunny melodies filtered through ferocious electronics. Unfortunately, the trick's impact was often watered down by a tendency toward petulance and self-absorption. Still, almost six years after NIN's last release, Read more

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Reviews (507)

Some new stuff with an older sound
Sounds a lot like Pretty Hate Machine.Lots of good songs here, but most of them are more suited as background music.Not too many jump out and grab your attention.Does not even compare to Downward Spiral which is a timeless masterpiece.

A More Mature Nihilism
Last Christmas my grandmother sent me some money, and this album is one of the things I bought.Having had no exposure to NIN (except through music videos), I was taken aback by my immediate liking of this particular work.I've since obtained a copy of "The Downward Spiral", and while I find it to be fascinating--not to mention obnoxious at times--I have to admit that, at age 41, I prefer "With Teeth", which is more advanced both lyrically and musically.Mr. Reznor's prodigious anger has thankfully been somewhat tempered by his new-found penchant for intelligent reflection and, yes, emotional growth. That's not to say that he's gotten boring.His innate talent precludes that.There are some genuinely beautiful melodies here to go along with his improved singing voice, but--not to worry--there's also the residual self-hatred, self-absorption, and loathing for existence shared by all nihilists.I like to think that I have a little man that lives inside of me.His name is Trent Reznor.

He's back and mellowed out BIG TIME
just wanted to say my mom liked this album so he has changed tremendiously. thats all ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Alternative Metal    2. Alternative Pop/Rock    3. Industrial    4. Industrial Metal    5. Pop    6. Rock    7. Rock/Pop    8. United States of America   

Reviews (29)

Love it, Love it
I enjoy all of the disc; it sets the mood for writing stories.
Very Cool!! I LOVE it!!
I love listening to this CD when I do my homework- it's very appropriate when I'm reading about dead guys (aka- doing history homework). My favorite tracks are Blackest Rose and Unseen Eyes. It's kind of creepy, in a good kind of way. I highly recommend it!

Brilliant!
If you enjoy good, dark orchestral music then this disc is for you.Superior gothic atmospheres abound on this disc centralized around a vampires crypt.Not as many sound effects as there are on other Midnight Syndicate releases. At times bombastic at other times subtly sinister, and reflective - a great tribute to the vampire mythos.
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Subjects:  1. Electronic    2. Gothic/horror soundscape CDs - haunting orchestral symphonies from the crypt.Perfect for Halloween.   

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Reviews (54)

3 Stars based on only hearing two songs!
I have heard "Angels" and "Stand My Ground," both were stellar tracks. If you like Evanescence, you'll LOVE Within Temptation. The tracks are much more rock though, and the singer will just blow you away. I'm looking forward to buying this album and hearing more from this band.

Good for What It Is
I am new to Within Temptation, I'll admit it -- I only discovered them within this year.Before then, I was a lunatic Nightwish fan, not dabbling in much else because I didn't think there was anything else.Funny, how I will make the same mistake various times.This album may not be the epitome of legendary beauty, but it IS good, and that is what counts.
I don't usually review cds....
....but I had to review this one. In my search to find another band like Nightwish, I stumbled onto this one. I didn't know which cd to pick so I picked the one with the cover that was most appealing to me (it sounds odd I'm sure, but it works everytime).
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Subjects:  1. Goth Rock    2. Heavy Metal    3. Pop    4. Rock   

Reviews (53)

Best Rammstein album to date
Forget about being mostly B-sides from Reise,Reise, which was awsome in its own right. "Rosenrot" takes Rammstein in a whole new direction and I certainly hope they stay down the road this ablum has started them. Now to be fair I am of the opinion that every Rammstein ablum has been better than its predecessor.Sehnsucht was topped by Mutter which was topped by Reise Reise which was topped by this album.So their next album might be better than "Rosenrot" but that would be asking a lot. Its hard to find a bad song on this album, okay maybe Stirb Nicht Vor Mir . And the great ones like ,Mann Gegen Mann, Wo Bist Du, and the title track are Rammsteins best songs yet. But the true standout on this album has to be Feuer und Wasser. Slow at first but when it gets going it is sheer brilliance. Move over Reise Reise, your B-sides just took center stage. With Rammstein it matters not whether you understand the lyrics or not, they are that good.

Great overall, 2 exceptions..
My favorite track is right out of the gate with Benzin, gets the blood flowing.Title track is good also. All good stuff with the exception of 2, my opinion. Stirb Nicht Vor Mir (Don't Die Before I Do)should be tossed.Te Quiero Puta! the reviewer below thinks is a "wonder" (yeah, I'm sure wonderin'), and a "top track" ???? Ya gotta be kiddin...That track finds new lower levels in the basement depths of Stupid.Ughhh...F'ing awful!!Good thing the rest of this CD rocks.

efing awsome
this is probably one of the greatest albums to date. if you get the chance to buy this album i suggest you do so. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Alternative Metal    2. Germany    3. Heavy Metal    4. Industrial Metal    5. Pop    6. Progressive Metal    7. Rock   

Reviews (9)

Perfect for Halloween!!!!
I have been a fan of Midnight Syndicate for only a very short period of time.I first heard the music last Halloween at a friend's party.She had The 13th Hour and I was blown away by the music - it was so different from any other Halloween music.When looking for music for my own Halloween party this year, I found the Out of the Darkness CD.
Great CD
I really enjoyed this CD.I am new to Midnight Syndicate and it was great to be able to hear a mix of their "cream of the crop" from their early years.It definitelly makes me want to hear more.It is creative, inspiring, relaxing and mysterious all rolled into one.

A fair effort, but nothing really special
How in the world do I handle this? To be fair, I am well aware that bands release "Greatest Hits" compilations all the time. To me, that's what this is... Midnight Syndicate's Greatest Hits essentially. I will not sit here and write that it's "terrible" music. It's not, by any means. However, I am not anywhere near as big a fan of this duo as I used to be. They were among my first tastes of this type of music, and it certainly has been an interesting experience, but I feel that I've moved on. I have since foundothers who perform Gothic horror music that is much better and more enticing...and just far more exciting to me on many levels.
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Subjects:  1. Miscellaneous    2. Soundtracks   

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Reviews (110)

A classic greatist hits package.
Listening to this album reminds me of flipping through the pages of an old "Famous Monsters of Filmland" magazine. When I hear Rob Zombie, I hear echos of a man enfluenced by Horror Films, Aurora Monster Models, Old "Creepy" and "Eerie" magazines from the 1970's, "The Munsters" and all the old stuff that pop culture threw at kids growing up in the 1960's and 70's. His music contains all those elements mixed up on his palet and comes up with some really interesting and entertaining stuff.The only way I can describe Rob Zombie's music is if you take: Kiss, ZZ-Top, Frank Zappa, Tom Waits and Alice Cooper, throw it in a blender, mix it up and then pour it into a skull shaped mug.
Rob Zombie/White Zombie fan
This is the difinitive Rob Zombie collection. You get all his greatest hits,including solo material and material from White Zombie.Plus,you get the videos to all his best songs. Who could ask for anything more.

A 19 course Zombie feast!
If you like Rob Zombie,(even a little bit), you've got to get this cd.It's a great balance that delivers his current hits, and allows you to enjoy his older hits.Awesome!
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Subjects:  1. Alternative Metal    2. Alternative Pop/Rock    3. Industrial Metal    4. Pop    5. Rock    6. Rock/Pop   

Reviews (11)

Yet another great album!
Nox Arcana is truly a original band for the era. The music is never boring and you always find something new when listening to it that you may not have heard before. Vargo is a very gifted artist in all the work he does and I for one am glad he formed his own band. The creative work behind the cd's really comes through not just in the music but in the album designs. Midnight Syndicate lost one of the most creative person's behind their success, but by starting the band Nox Arcana at least none of the fans are suffering. Keep up the great work and I look forward to the next album.

Nox Arcana's finest soundtrack to date.
If there were not tracks on the cd that were spoken rather than instrumental you would almost envision yourself sitting in a darkened theater (or living room) watching the opening credits roll on an updated version of Dracula.Once again Nox Arcana have produced exemplary work on this, their fourth cd.
Bloody Wonderful
Nox Arcana (what a perfect name)again show their mastery of Gothic sensibilities with an album that simply drips atmosphere . . . of the dank, clammy, foggy kind, cut with the lethal swoop of leathery wings and sudden, despairing shrieks. Read more

Subjects:  1. Alternative    2. Embark on a musical journey into the mysterious and forbidden land of vampires, werewolves and witches. This powerful, eerie and darkly romantic soundscape offers 21 tracks of symphonic orchestrations, gothic choirs and haunting sound effects.    3. Goth Rock    4. Rock/Pop    5. Soundtracks   

Reviews (21)

A masters work.
In my mind this is one of those albums that should be issued to everyone the moment that they become an angsty teenager.I'm going to be very biased as this is one of the first cd's I ever bought upon finding it used at the local record store, but its also one of the few albums that I still enjoy listening to after all this time.
This one kicked it off
This is techno after a long line of coke.The first song, Head Like a Hole, is probably my favorite song NIN ever did.Terrible Lie is probably my 2nd choice of this album (a distant 2nd.)This album is good, but kind of soft.It one of those albums that if your in the mood for it, you think it is the best album ever, but if your not, it will get on your nerves.Honestly, the album is worth buying just for Head Like a Hole.This album blends together with their album Broken to give us The Downward Spiral, which is, in my opinion, by far their best overall album.

1989..
1989, the year Trent Reznor got pissed enough to write a masterpiece of anger and resentment about a girl.
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Subjects:  1. Alternative Pop/Rock    2. Industrial    3. Industrial Metal    4. Pop    5. Rock    6. Rock/Pop    7. United States of America   

Editorial Review

Trent Reznor took five years to record this monstrous double-CD set, wielding a perfectionist's touch in the production and the subtlety of a chainsaw in the musicianship. The result is uncompromising, full of hysterical noise and yet utterly accessible. Somehow, someway, this is one of the best pop records of the year. Read more

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Reviews (1040)

Took me years to get it....
Okay, I will admit that I COMPLETELY SLAGGED this album off in my With Teeth review. The truth is, I didn't "get" this album until today. You see, I am going through a rather terrible break up right now, so the whole theme of "putting your life back together" from a state of complete and utter isolation finally registered with me on a more cerebral and personal level. One of the reasons why I originally hated this album was because I was an avid Downward Spiral fan. To me, that album was pure aural bliss and brilliance. On that record, Trent took the harshness of old school industrial acts like Throbbing Gristle and SPK and combined it with conventional album rock like Pink Floyd and David Bowie. And I always enjoyed the albums that Trent did with Marilyn Manson, too, but when The Fragile came out I was like... wtf. It just didn't register with me. I understood that it was supposed to be a more epic and introspective record, but what I didn't understand was that the entire album was one big therapeutic process for Trent. In other words, this is not an album that could be the soundtrack to Tetsuo: The Iron Man or anything, it strips away all of the layers and there is a lot of frailty and humanity in these songs, hence the title "The Fragile." Don't be a fool like me and expect a barrage of fuzz guitars and scrapping metal effects on this record.
One of the most well crafted and atmospheric journey's into a double disc album
Sure their are a few forgettable tracks(Starf***ers comes to mind), and the album is more of the type where you have to sit down and listen from left to right to get the whole picture, but this is Trent Reznor's masterpiece, forget The Downward Spiral.
Good stuff
I've ignored this band for some reason or another. Now I'm first getting into them and this CD is very good. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Alternative Pop/Rock    2. Industrial    3. Industrial Metal    4. Pop    5. Rock    6. Rock/Pop